Return That Witch Was Taken
by CelticPhoenixProductions
Summary: Losing a soulmate is crushing. Losing them to their own child is worse. And when it was simple twist of fate, it becomes too painful to bare. A year later, Diana Kagari decides that wallowing in her own spite and pity isn't enough. She needs to take action, and she needs to do it with conviction. She needs to reclaim that which was taken from her. Multiple AUs


_~Author's Note~_

 _What's this? A series that's_ not _Madoka Magica, a commission, or from an old story?! And it has a punny title?!_

 _Yep, I've caught that bug from Little Witch Academia and I'm riding it to no end. Holy Carp is this show good. I mean, really, Trigger is knocking it out of the park, especially when you line it up side-by-side with how RWBY is being handled (that said, comparing them isn't really all that fair)._

 _But yes, like many fandoms I'm in, I naturally gravitated to the yuri-segment quite quickly, and AkkoxDiana is now a more than seasonal ship of mine. It feels a_ lot _like White Rose, but instead of the two being written poorly in the source material I actually have to_ try _and match the quality writing of the show. Don't know if I succeeded._

 _And while I typically don't work within other creator's play spaces, this entire piece was inspired by a crossover between two AU's developed by the fandom; the Years Later AU (by The Neon Flower) and the Small Plumb AU (by Azura the Magician). As much as I try to explain things here to work with them, looking into those twos' Tumblrs will fill you in on all the emotions behind this particular piece (especially since the Small Plumb AU is the one I'm primarily bouncing from). Now, dependent on whatever those artists/writers do, this is even_ more _AU to their work. But f**k it, this is fanfiction, and I wanted to write this. If it IS its own AU to theirs, call it the 'Untested Tether AU'. You'll learn why soon enough._

 _Oh, and before I forget to mention this, I wrote this on my tablet at work, so it might be a little flatter than usual, and may have more grammatical mistakes. Touch screens are a_ paaaiinn… _I caught an autocorrection for 'Stilling' which corrected into 'Sterling' and it makes me anxious about what OTHER malapropism are going to pop up around this piece… Do you know how many times it corrected 'Sucy' to 'Such'? EVERY TIME._

 _Anyway, rant over. I hope you enjoy! :D_

O/o\O

 _Return That Witch Was Taken_

"Are you sure about this, Diana?"

The platinum witch scanned the room, haggard blue eyes coming to rest on the small girl playing quietly in the corner.

"I have my mind made up, if that's what you're asking,"Diana replied, biting her lip. In older days such a show of anxiety would have been carefully hidden behind an indifferent mask, but the years since her tenure as a student of Luna Novaand of course the necessities of motherhood had tapered her desire for 'proper' form. Even still she wished that she still possessed some of that projected resolve, if only to shake loose the concerned stares being angled her way.

"You don't seem all that confident, princess," Amanda chimmed in, pointing a well-licked spoon at the progeny before dipping it back down into her bowl of ice cream.

The Brit flinched, frowning in time with two other women, "Any doubt that I may seem to possess should only indicate my lack in confidence for the outcome of this venture... Not to my resolution that I must do it in the first place..."

Amanda narrowed her eyes, the emerald gems scrutinizing theimplication, "So you don't even think it'll work?"

"I said no such thing," Diana snapped, sapphires driving to challenge the American girl's stripping gaze.

"Easy Diana," Lotte cooed, "And Amanda you don't need to be so agressive."

The redhead's gaze lingered only a moment before she relented, falling sullen shortly thereafter. A frustrated sigh drifted from her lips, "Sorry Diana... Its just something like this seems risky, even to me..."

"That's just because you've been binging those zombie movies with Lotte lately," came a fourth, dryer voice. Amanda renewed her glare towards the witch sitting in the corner with Diana's daughter. The tall, pale and lengthy girl was dangling a small vile over the child's head just before dripping a single ounce of the liquid onto the girl hair. In a momentary flicker the silky chestnut waves shriveled and dried into strands of seaweed, leading the one year old to laugh and clap at the treatment.

"Sucy! I told you to stop experimenting on Ume!" Diana shouted, her blood spiking to a boil.

The purple witch looked at the giggling child and shrugged, "Without Akko I need someone else to experiment on. Ume even seems more receptive than Akko ever was..."

The platinum woman turned to the other two, a desperate twinge to her eyes, "Please don't let her do anything crazy to Ume while I'm gone..."

Lotte returned it with a sluggish smile, "We'll take care of her like she was our own."

"I'm going to experiment on your children too, just to clear the misunderstanding right away,"Such added, measuring the seaweed length with a ruler, "Speaking of which, when are you and Amanda finally going t-"

"Damnit, we're getting sidetracked!" Amanda yelled, slamming down her fist. "Point of the matter is that you're messing with life and death here and I don't think anyone is okay with that."

Diana cringed, but her determination didn't waver. She was about to respond when Lotte covered her wife's hand, stilling the redhead's temperament.

"We're just trying to say we're worried about something like this might not be healthy..."the bespectacled woman explained.

Diana nodded at the observation, "I'm more than aware of how immature I may appear in attempting the ritual, but after some troubling self-reflection... It's the only thing that will put my heart at ease... I need to do this... If only to let go."

The couple were quiet as the teacher's words sunk in.

"Just... Don't do anything crazy, okay? You still have people here that need you..." Amanda lamented, nodding to the small girl who'd returned to playing with the multi-toy gifted by Constanze.

"You mean don't do anything _you_ would do?"Diana smirked. Amanda smiled back, though neither of their smiles quite reach their eyes. Still, the moment of levity was more than welcomed among the three.

After a moment of quiet passed, Amanda yawned, standing into a craning back and scooping up the mostly empty bowls on the table the three different households had eaten from, "Well, I'll get this all cleaned u-OI, SUCY! NO FEEDING THE KID POTIONS!" The redhead slammed down the bowls and stomped into the living room.

"You didn't stop me before..."

"BECAUSE TOPICAL POTIONS ARE EASIER TO DISPEL! NOTHING DOWN UME'S GULLET THAT ISN'T FDA APPROVED!"

"We live in Britain."

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"

"Amanda, dear, inside voices..." Lotte called, her voice feeble in the face of her wife's protective rage.

Diana kept to her smile, sipping at the tea the couple had given her earlier, "I can't thank you enough for doing this."

"You're not the only one who wants to see her again," Lotte admitted, watching her wife and best friend playfully wrestle around the excited child. "If I we're in your place and Amanda in Akko's I'd be more than desperate to get her back... There's a reason we haven't had a child together yet," she frowned ever so briefly towards Ume. "If anything, you're far more dignified than I would be..."

"I do have an image to maintain," Diana grimaced. "But the sympathy is nice all the same...This last year has been nothing but surreal..."

"Just..."the Finn paused, pursing her lips, "Just promise me one thing..."

The platinum woman lowered her drink, "Hmmm?"

The blonde sucked in a confidence building breath, "If this fails... If _you_ fail...You'll move on, like you know she'd want..."

Diana laughed, clutching at the pain swelling in her chest, the chime of her giggle devoid of mirth, "Of course I'll move on after that..." Any smile she once held faded,"If I fail, I won't have hope holding me back anymore."

O/o\O

Clouds fluttered by in the nighttime air, the moonlight glaring off the ashen shapes. Typically Diana preferred leyline travel over more… rustic forms of flight, much like any proud witch would, but circumstances necessitated the more mundane form of travel…

Mundane. It brought a smile to her face to think how much she'd changed. There was once a time where she'd considered broomflight 'mundane' and it had been traditional fight that had awed her, though that awe was far more condescending as she marveled over the fact that normal humans had even attained flight in the first place, though she'd never state that so bluntly. Yes, her upbringing as a noble-blooded witch had somewhat poisoned her youth, but she was incredibly lucky to have accidentally stumbled into the arms of the ultimate antidote during her tutelage at Luna Nova; a klutzy little witch named Atsuko Kagari.

To say they were rivals from the start would be charitable, both to Diana's self-assured disposition and Atsuko's skill level. Yet, the longer the two remained peers the more Diana watched Atsuko 'Akko' Kagari grow exponentially from a magical invalid to one of the most adept Witches of their class. There was a point of pride in there for Diana, as in their second semester she'd assisted Akko with private, secretive tutoring that increased her learning by a factor of ten. It was only when the girl not only started to match Diana's capability but also manage to surpass it, Diana experienced, for the first time in her life, jealousy. And as many unfamiliar to that emotion, it led her to behave rather… immaturely. Combined with the ego boost Akko had ridden all throughout that time and their later years at Luna Nova ended up being incredibly eventful.

However, just as the dispute reached its must heated, the two stumbled upon some surprising truths. During a heated argument-turned-duel in the forest, detached from the eyes of their classmates, Dianahad let slip an admission that she was not just envious of Akko, not just jealous of Akko, but that, despite those emotional misgivings, she genuinely admired Akko.

Diana smiled back on the memory, the dumbfounded look on Akko's face perpetually inscribed into her mind. Of course, her cheeks also pinked remembering how flustered she herself had been following the outburst. But like that a dam of unspoken emotions came pouring out, both of the girls coming together to apologize for their wrongs over the years and eventually come to a unified and resolute conclusion: their feud had been unbelievably petty and had only served to mask the glaring truth that the two had, inexplicably, fallen heads-over-heels for each other.

That little revelation had become a little adventure all on its own, leading to a whirlwind romance, one that the two had managed to keep secret from the rest of the school for quite some time. And then came a spat between Amanda and Diana that led to Akko both defending the prodigy and accidentally outing them both as a couple. Well, as 'accidentally' as a full-on lip lock could be. Then again, it was entirely possible that could have been the case with Akko; stranger things had happened and Akko's luck probably counted as its own subdomain at this point.

From there it'd been an uphill battle, appearing the part as a proper Cavendish while also paying mind to her adorable rabbit of a girlfriend. It was only after they both graduated that a sense of true levity settled over the relationship. They were both their own people free to pursue what they wanted… Who they wanted… With no consequence. And with that freedom came a proposal, and with that proposal came a ceremony, and in that ceremony was a ritual. Maybe it would have surprised the young Diana that she was soulmated to a woman so obsessed with a children's entertainer, that she'd belong, both heart and soul, to the biggest klutz to ever live, but the minute the two decided to attempt the ritual she knew that this dunce was _hers_ and _only_ hers.

Well, hers alone for only so long. Between being the youngest professor admitted to Luna Nova and being one of the largest rising stars in entertainment history, the happily married couple made a boneheaded decision; to have a child. It was an especially boneheaded decision since they agreed that Akko would be the birth mother, considering that in her performances she had to regularly perform intense acrobatics that Diana knew for a fact played hell on the Japanese woman's body.

But, Akko was adamant, and like most things she eventually whittled down Diana's objections until she got her way. And so, after a long night of spells, rituals and some more 'provocative' magics, Diana's wonderful wife was blessed with a child of their mutual conception.

From all observations, their lives couldn't get any happier.

And then came the time for Akko to deliver. There had been no indications, by all measures, despite the unorthodox means, the pregnancy had been a normal one. And yet, by Akko's last contraction her arms had gone limp and were quick to cool, her pulse empty and slowing. Within the span of three minutes, through panicked shouts and screams, over the newborn Ume's wails, Diana knew she had lost that very part of her soul she had so struggled to find.

What followed was a year of torment, a void with only the flicks of faded gold that once populated it. Within a day Diana was 'composed', but by no means was she alright. Her former dormmates, Barbara and Hannah, had seen fit to distract her with all possible means, Lotte and Amanda more than opened their doors as babysitters (a service that was instrumental in this trip's planning) and even Sucy had offered some 'all natural' potions to supplement the girl's mood, though Diana rejected any form of narcotic, be it organic or artificial.

As it was, Diana's grief was only compounded by everyone's drive to console her; she was already suffering enough as it was, dragging everyone down with her only added guilt to the mix. But what really broke her was what disdain sat in her gut surrounding her daughter. She adored Ume, loved the small bundle to death… But lingering thoughts rooted deep, of wha-ifs and if-thens. Quietly, without even noticing, spite for her daughter had engulfed the space where Akko had once been the corner stone.

There came some nights where it ate at her too voraciously, where it gnawed and chewed at every fiber of her being, where the last, small, helpless gift her wife had given her was transformed from that immaculate angel into a devil that had stolen away everything precious to Diana in the dead of night. Some days she came close to ending the internal fued, of snuffing out the light that burned so deeply against her skin in the vain hope it would somehow restore that lost star…

But she knew the truth. Ume was no more at fault for her birth-mother's death thanthe iceberg was for the Titanic. No, both situations were born from two things only; ignorance and hubris. For the Titanic it was the ignorance of the crew and the hubris of the creator. For Akko, it had been the ignorance and hubris behind Diana allowing Akko to go forward as the birth-mother.

The knowledge destroyed Diana, and for a time she considered snuffing her own flame out instead, fearing that similar mistakes would scar those she loved in the future. She had considered killing her own child for Christ's sake, was that not worthy of retribution?!

But no, at some point, some point only recently, a sane part of her mind spoke out against these dour thoughts. And in that moment Diana realized that she needed to solve this silent war or _real_ damage may very well be induced by her distracted state. So she turned to the one resource that had always served her best through the years, the one companion besides Akko that could help her through a difficult time; magic.

Then research was daunting; four hundred and seventeen texts and scriptures, all penned from forty-two distinct periods of history. After a month of research, Diana found what she was looking for; The Lost Fountain of Life. A close cousin to the famous Fountain of Youth, the Lost Fountain of Life could restore to life one being of the summoner's choosing. However, the well was more than notorious for its fickle nature, and what it truly asks in return fluctuates from person to person. Of the thousands to attempt the ritual, only five have ever succeeded.

From the meticulous research, Diana had determined a few constants to the process. One: those resurrected were brought back on a date exactly 365 days after their initial deaths. Two: an important and meaningful item belonging to the deceased must be forfeited to the well. Three: a series of words and chants commonly accepted as part of the ritual. And four: something never spoken aloud by any party involved. There was some unknown cost that they were sworn to secrecy over that could not physically be repeated to anyone else. Despite her best efforts, Diana could not ascertain what this fourth ingredient was, just that it was something no party had anticipated going into the procedure.

Diana sighed as she renewed her notes. Here she was, on the eve of the anniversary of Akko's death and she still had not an inkling what it was the fountain wanted. Oddly enough, everything else about this trip was rather clean cut; for as 'lost' they said it was, the fountain had become a tourist trap. Fools, both magical and mundane, were always trying their luck, only to fail for some small, overlooked reason. Of course, should you fail once, the fountain rejects you forever; one shot is all anyone had, including Diana herself.

The sticking point that had made the fountain so 'Lost' in the first place dealt more with how the fountain didn't easily line up with any chain of leylines and had to be travelled to on foot in the days before the advent of automation. Thankfully Diana was alive in a time where she could easily take advantage of the available technology (though it loathed her to have take the plane trip as charity on Andrew's behest; how Akko could still be friends with him so many years later, without parental oversight, as a motive was baffling).

So with travel easily solved, the incantations thoroughly practiced, Shiny Chariot's signature card tucked in her satchel (a painful sacrifice, for herself and Akko, she was sure), and the anniversary dawning come morning, Diana was rather confident of her success… Was it not for that final outstanding piece of information that yet still eluded her.

She set aside her papers, listing her head against the window, allowing the plane's deep thrum rumble through her. This expedition of hers was reckless. There was admittedly little risk as far as her research could tell her; not a single person going into the ritual had died of unnatural causes, so there was no curse, and the financial expenditures were piddling for someone of her resources. But the emotional toll… She didn't know how she'd ultimately react upon a failure. Worries about suicide were certainly the chief concern among her friends, though she knew that she'd never be brave or foolish enough to pull that trigger. Depression, of course, was the most likely ailment to persist, as it had been the invisible scythe dragging at her throat this entire year. But what she feared the most was some kind of elation, a signifier of an emotional break with Akko… Letting go.

Exacerbating this was a mishap on Akko's part. _Another_ Akko's part. Parallel worlds were well travelled by those of magic heritage, though typically with a gentle set of steps. Leave it to the universal constant Akko to break those walls by accident and wander into Diana's plane of existence. This Akko was more sullen, quieter, and while that spark she so desperately loved still shone, it was considerably dimmer. _This_ Akko and _her_ Diana had gone through hell together and come out alive. And though _this_ Akko did briefly profess her love of Diana, a love that Diana knew was genuine, she also chose to return to her home, to _her_ Diana, the one she loved above all others. Diana had been desperate when she asked the shell-shocked Akko to stay, pleading and refusing to listen. She dared to say it was the most embarrassing and pathetic show of selfishness she had ever displayed, and regret set in the moment the other Akko had given her that pained, lopsided smile and left.

That was when she had begun to despise Ume, when she had begun to despise herself and when she had finally decided on a course of action that would either return what had been taken or otherwise force herself to face the reality of a life without the gem of her life besides her…

A ding sounded from above, breaking her from her self-loathing thoughts.

" _Miss Cavendish, we're coming up on the landing strip. Please prepare for descent._ "

The pilot's voice carried through the cabin and she nodded absently in affirmation, buckling herself in and stowing what papers remained unsecured.

As turbulence rocked the plane she thought of those brilliant mahogany orbs she so desired to see again, the weathered ones she had witnessed shortly before and the glistening spheres of her daughter. With all of that said, with all of those reasons given, there was one more motive pushing Diana to breach the barrier between the mortal coils… A girl so loved deserved to know the person who probably loved her most…

O/o\O

Diana rested her hands on her knees, panting in the thin air. Thankfully the trek had been relatively short, and most of it was easily covered by broom, but with how oxygen deprived the atmosphere was this high up the mountains even the simple act of walking for half an hour had become somewhat winding.

Still, since having arrived, both in the eastern Indian town and now to the spring itself in the heart of the Himalayas, her heart would not stop beating a mile a minute. It was only now her mind really grasped how ludicrous and delusional her goal was, how she was banking on being one out of thousands, one out of millions who had failed before her; but she was Diana Cavendish, and in all things she was probably the one person most deserving of that title.

But in some way, the weight of those thoughts spurred her forward even more vehemently, maybe even to the point of recklessness. If you're doing something crazy and are already halfway done, why not go all in?

With her legs scraping at the rocks she lobbed herself over the last obstacle between herself and the fountain. Yes, the fountain itself had become a tourist trap, but the actual path in and the fountain proper was still given a wide berth as a form of reverence. As such the half-hour walk involved squeezing through tight caverns and leaping small rock walls that segmented her path.

She'd read about the first man to have found the fountain, a Tibetan shaman seeking refuge from a snowstorm while out hunting. He'd found the fountain as a source of clean water and had only started drinking when he saw the face of his oldest son where his reflection should have been. Having lost his son a year prior, the shaman did what he could to pull the boy from the water, and in doing so had become the first of six to successfully resurrect the dead, permanently, with no negative repercussions. His ritual had been crude, since it was not only an earlier age of magic but also a spell meant initially only to pull a temporary doppelganger from your reflection. However, according to him, and hundreds of others who had completed the first steps of the ritual, the fountain was keen to guide those with strong enough will through concurrent steps. Of course, these steps were more daunting than the first, which was composed of comparatively simple magics.

Remnants of these magics were scattered at her feet, shards of glass and flecks of ash coating the cratered rock that wreathed a crystalline pool of water. A dim light flickered from the deepest edge of the pool, sending bending illumination scattering over the low ceiling. Combined with the crystalline fractures embedded in the soot and the whole room sparkled like a rainbow. Were it not for the flutters of anxiety and excitement building in her chest she may have taken the time to really be awed; instead all she managed was an impressed gasp and a fleeting gawk before setting down her satchel and getting to work.

A ritual dagger, a set of delicate cloth, a porcelain effigy, and her wand all slid smoothly from her pack, along with a small chalkboard and phosphorous chalk. To think the shaman managed to concoct the necessary ingredients from what little he had was astounding and likely also a brilliant stroke of luck. From what observations Diana had made in her research, one of the key factors that caused many to fail happened with their ingredients. For example, most who came brought glass effigies, which are used in the doppelganger ritual to serve as the body. However, most of these effigies were store-bought at a magic shop; what she'd learned was that all of the previous success stories had handcrafted their effigies. Doppelgangers only required a facsimile of a body and not real flesh, simply a form from which the glass could take shape. But for a ritual like this the specific emotions of the caster needed to be involved to supply the emotional magics necessary to reform healthy flesh.

With her pieces laid before her she began to arrange the effects and detailing her magical runes on the chalkboard. There were many aspects of this ritual many people took too seriously, like the size and shape of their runes when really crude approximations were all that were necessary. Arrangement, however, was a different story. Diana scrawled down perfect rune after rune onto her board, using magic to superimpose the images onto the correct spots of the room; after all, even if they didn't _need_ to be perfect she still had personal standards of quality to abide by. By the time she finished she felt confident that she was bound to be more successful than sixty percent of the others who had attempted this ritual.

With the runes inscribed she set to work draping the cloth around the effigy, placing it atop the first, central glowing rune she'd inscribed. Then, slowly, she worked through the movements of the ritual, shearing through the cloth at specific points around the porcelain doll with the ritual knife. When her work was done she leaned back to admire it, appraising the craftsmanship for any flaw whatsoever that may have caused her to fail. Finding none, she let out a shaky breath, pleased to know that she was about to rise above seventy percent of all who performed the task.

Diana let the doll sit and flicked out her wand, sucking in a breath before muttering a series of very delicately practiced incantations. With one last, firm swish the effigy and the rags around it sprung to life, shooting into the air before hurtling into the crystalline pool, the cloth burning and dissolving to ash as it flew.

The room dimmed and the light shone green, rippling and waving across the barren walls. Then came the second most common reason casters failed; draconic script. The fountain had a number of theories to its origins, and the draconic writing it used to communicate with those in its presence led credence to the theory that a dragon had somehow been responsible for its creation.

Of course, the first two spell casters to use the well successfully had come from a time in which draconic was commonly spoken and written, but more modern casters often failed because translating the text was incredibly difficult on the fly. Oddly enough, Pierre St. James, one of the later success stories, had simply enlisted the aid of a translator, which seemed so humorous to her as no others seemed to avail themselves of such a resource before or after. Then again, none of them may have been worthy of note. After all, not everyone excelled to the top twenty percent of all spell casters when coming this far.

With her (admittedly rusty) mastery of Draconic, she managed to decipher the message; ' _Bare to the world a gift of their heart.'_

Diana swallowed and pulled out the Chariot trading card from the breast pocket of her beige photographer's vest, hands shaking as she looked at it one last time. This card had been the source of so many heartfelt memories for Akko, and later Diana. The card could be replaced, but this was _Akko's_ card, and should this ritual fail it would be one more shred of the woman that Diana would be unable to cling to. Many failed here simply from lack of will power, unable to let go.

Her jaw clenched. Either she was all in or she'd wasted everyone's time, including her own.

With a graceful, yet heart-wrenching throw, Diana surrendered the card to the fountain, the thin paper listing on the water's surface. To her surprise and some minor delight, the card did not sag in the mirror sheen of the well, but instead oriented itself in line with the runes, remaining crisp and steady above the shimmering effigy.

The light flashed once, forcing her to squint as the cavern was consumed by a cerulean tint.

Ninety percent had failed. Diana was still going steady.

Blinking, Diana watch as the words shifted and changed, coming to land on the second and final message; ' _Render forth the untested tether and reel in the errant soul._ '

And there is where Diana's heart stopped.

"...What?"Diana gaped, confused.

The words flickered, almost as if the scribing was rolling its eyes, yet it ultimately remained unchanged.

She took a step back, wracking her mind for interpretation and translation. While the translation of 'untested' was literal, more indirect translations could see it meaning 'unseen' or 'unfelt'. Likewise 'tether' could mean anything, be it a twine string or a metaphysical tie.

Diana curled her fingers around her lapel, mulling over every possible meaning to the words and each time coming up empty handed. Her heart began to hammer, her palms growing sweaty, hands beginning to shake. In a move to dispel those anxieties she pawed at her knuckles, hoping beyond hope that some inspiration would edge its way into her mind. And, in a spritz of luck befitting only her wife, it did.

It was surprising it hadn't occurred to her before; something intangible, something connecting... soulmates. Every person who had been resurrected, as far as she knew, had been soulmated to the summoner. The criteria had passed her by because so many soulmates had also tried and failed... But the more she recalled, the more she remembered that those exceptions had failed for other reasons as well. Leave it to be something intrinsic, something difficult to quantify that gave so many before such difficulty.

Without hesitation Diana retrieved her knife and levied it above her ring finger, where a faintly glowing scar wreathed the spot where a wedding ring was typically supposed to rest. She starred at the mark, remembering how elated and excited she had been when she and Akko had received it in tandem. To shed herself of this would be more than painful; it be the loss of the last clear connection she had with klutz. No matter what happened, she had always felt, very faintly, the warmth of Akko's embrace whenever she cradled it, even after her wife had passed away. To sacrifice it would be almost unimaginable. Still, she held her knife aloft, its edge separating her from being the seventh person to complete the ritual.

She crouched down and rested her hand on a jagged outcropping, raising the knife to strike. But just as she tensed her arm, she relented and dropped the blade, her fist balling. Something was wrong. To chop off her finger seemed almost purposeless. Up until this point the sacrifices had been sentimental; this seemed excessively cruel for the fountain to demand. This was especially so because non-romantic soulmates, such as the father and son, usually manifested as some form of body scar or tattoo... Were they to skin themselves to succeed?

And then something about the phrasing clicked: it wasn't 'proof' of the tether it asked for, but the tether itself. Her ring finger would be proof of the tether, but the tether itself would be...

Diana sighed, "Lord, I hope I'm right about this..."

Diana stepped upon the rock she had previously planned to use as a cutting board and shed her vest, following it closely with her climbing pants. There, in a loose T-shirt and her skivvies, Diana took in a conflicted breath. She had one shot at this; if she was wrong, everything she'd done here would be pointless.

Stilling her nerves, Diana closed her eyes and stepped off the rock, falling listlessly into the pool.

The reaction was immediate. Fire ignited just beneath Diana's skin, spreading out into the liquid around her, causing it to boil and pop. Even with her eyes squeezed shut she was blinded by a brilliant light projected from her irises and her mind was assaulted by a thousand screeching harpies. This pain continued for what felt like an eternity, but was punctuated when something small, soft and warm bumped between her arms. As the light and sounds began to fade, the soft skin against her flesh began to grow, eventually reaching the size of a full grown woman.

The boiling water slowly stilled, leaving the cavern dim and quiet, save for the sound of two heartbeats.

One heartbeat had become two, six had become seven.

Diana held the weighty form in her arms aloft, pulling it closer to get a better look. Chestnut hair, chipmunk cheeks... But what sealed the deal was the pair of glittering mahogany eyes that slowly opened to stare up at her.

"Di-...Diana?"

The platinum witch held back a sob as every pore of her body unwound, every increment of stress dissolving as the arms between hers gripped her back.

"Di-Diana!?"

The professor cracked a smile but couldn't manage to find actual words. Instead she nodded, unable to keep her eyes free of tears.

Akko's face broke into heart wrenching wails as she launched forward and embraced her wife, "Diana!"

The brunette nuzlled herself into Diana's shoulder, choking on her own cries as the two did their best to squeeze each other tighter.

"I... I missed... Akko, please... Never leave me again, please," Diana pleaded, inhaling the earthy scent of the brunette's water logged hair.

Akko laughed into Diana's mane, struggling to hold her wife tighter, "I promise, I promise, I promise!" She leaned back, grinning like a tired idiot, "But even if I do break my promise, I know you'll be there to bring me home again!"

Tired frustration bubbled to the top of Diana's emotions, forcing her to swim in an uncomfortable tank of anxiety.

"I can only bring you back from the dead like this once, don't push our luck!" Diana chided, flicking Akko on the forehead.

The brunette winced, but then grinned anyway, rubbing closer to the woman, "Okay, okay, I won't push it... But I know you'd still figure out another way..."

The mood sobered as Akko's earnest observation broke through. And deep down, Diana knew Akko was right, in much the same way she knew that Akko wouldn't give up on her should anything happen. They were soulmates for a reason.

The brunette wasted no time using the quieter mood to her advantage, leaning forward in the crystalline waters to catch Diana's lips in a tender kiss. Diana's momentary frustration melted when she pushed back in to that soft supple flesh. It was a sensation she never wanted to live without again.

When they separated they squared their foreheads together, their noses just touching enough to send static down their spines.

But eventually, this quiet moment had to come to an end, especially considering their currently half-submerged position.

"Okay, Akko, since you're naked and I'm wet-"

"What?!" Akko squeaked, immediately going red, "Look, I know it's been a year Diana, but I'm kinda tired... I didn't think you'd become so bold..."

The ramble was met with another flick to her forehead, "Let me finish. I was saying, we're going to need to share the towel. I only brought the one and I didn't expect that I'd be th-"

Diana's voice cut short, suddenly, but not painfully. She blinked, surprised, trying to articulate the same sentence again, only to be stopped once more. In a moment it registered to her.

"So that's why no one ever discussed the final segment..." Diana mused, resting her fingers on her lips in wonder. The question _had_ crossed her mind as to why those successful hadn't discussed the last leg of the challenge, and it appeared as though she got her answer.

"What was that Diana?" Akko asked.

"Nothing, nothing, it just appears I've caught a little bit of a curse is all, but nothing truly detrimental," she explained.

"Are you sure?" Akko questioned back, her brow rising. "I mean, we could find a way to liiifff-"

The brunette's eyes became half lidded and she listed forward, forcing Diana to catch her before she wound up face-down in the water.

"It's really not a big deal..." Diana explained smoothly, "I'm more worried about you right now. You must be exhausted. And hungry. Come sit over there with me and we can have something to eat... Would you like some pickled plumbs?"

Akko blinked and managed a weak smile, "...I love you..."

Diana kissed her forehead, "I love you too."

O/o\O

"So... I thought reviving the dead was strictly against witch law..." Akko asked, plopping another plumb between her lips.

"Only in most circumstances. Certain instances, like this well spring, stand as infrequent exceptions," Diana explained, closing the tin. "Like you've proven time and time again, you're an exception to the rule..."

"D'awwww..."the woman blushed, curling into the towel. She leaned over and kissed her wife on the cheek."But without the rules they wouldn't be worth breaking."

Diana knew the look in her wife's eye and she didn't need to know draconic to translate what she said. 'I wouldn't be me without you...'

The platinum girl patted Akko on the head, receiving a sparkling grin in response. The two continued eating in comfortable silence when Diana finally decided to ask one of the few questions still on her mind.

"Akko... what... was it like?"

The woman's chewing slowed, and her hands came to rest in her lap.

"It... It's a whole whirl of images to me... I could see you, and Lotte, and Such, and... Well, everyone... But I could never get a clear look... And I know there was more to it but I can't remember it at all... The 'more' part, I mean..."Akko sighed, gripping her forehead as she tried to recall. "Even now it feels like I've only been gone a few minutes, but I know, I just know it's been a year. And even weirder still is that the bit I can't remember feels like it was a lifetime ago..."

Diana nodded. The scholar would normally take notes on what Akko was saying, but anything remotely studious had faded into the back of her mind.

"It sounds very...vague..."

"It really was... But I was able to keep up to date on a lot of things, which was nice!"

The platinum woman hummed, "And what about our daughter... How much do you know about her?"

Akko grinned, though it was far less intense than her signature smile, "I know she's alive and well... And that you've done everything you can to be mom of the year... Stella's off to a good start for sure..."

"'Stella'?" Diana echoed back.

"Uh, yeah... I mean, before... We hadn't decided what we'd name her... So I thought you'd go with your first choice..."the performer babbled, scratching e back of her neck.

The professor rolled her eyes before flicking Akko between hers." _Ume_ seems quite happy with her name and I think it fits her far better than any name I came up with..." Diana admitted, "She really is your daughter, Akko. Pickled plumbs and all."

By this point, Akko had dissolved into a talking tear dispenser, burbling as she lunged over and captured Diana in a deep, adoring hug.

"Gah! Akko! You're still naked! Finish drying up and put on those clothes before you catchy your death... again!"

O/o\O

Diana hadn't phoned anyone before they arrived at the O'Neil residence, traveling all the way home with the luxury of Andrew's private jet to spring the grandest surprise on their friends. Of course, it had been Akko's idea. But, seeing as it had been her first request since literally rising from the dead, Diana couldn't help but acquiesce. At least, that's what she told herself; it wasn't like she missed that mischievous glint in her wife's eye or that she drew her own amusement from the plan.

And almost immediately it had proven fruitful, as Sucy was the first person to open the door. The lanky woman's stoic facade never changed as Akko's grinning mug lorded over her, but it was betrayed the moment she dropped the teacup she was holding, the delicate material shattering as it slammed to the stonework floor.

"Sucy?! Is something wrong? Who was at the door? What was that shattering sound?" Lotte's voice sounded from around the corner. It was only when the blonde turned the corner and managed to look just past the other babysitter that words failed her. She squeaked as she inhaled, slamming up against the hallway's closet door while cupping her hands over her face.

"Hey Sucy, hey Lotte, how's it goin'?" Akko asked, stepping around the stock-still purple witch to ogle the house, pretending like nothing had happened. "Ooh, I like what you've done with the place! Little changes, but the rooms all seem so much brighter now!" She continued, bounding around the corner, past the shell-shocked Lotte.

Diana watched it all from the doorway, delicate fingers covering he mouth to refrain from laughing. Much like her lamentations a few days earlier, she wished her previous years of rigorous composition wouldn't fail her, but in this case she was too overcome with glee to legitimately care. Akko was her clown and to not enjoy it would be sacrilegious.

She entered herself, following after her rambling wife, bypassing the two women who were only now slowly coming to grips with the goofy whirlwind that had just blown past them.

"Gahhh! Ghost! Ghost! Holy shit, a ghost!"

"Aww, c'mon Amanda, no need to be so scared! I'm a friendly ghost!"

Diana rounded the bend to find Akko squeezing the life out of her acrobatics partner from behind, the illustrious Amanda O'Neil squirming in her clutches. Though it would be entertaining to see this continue, the risk of Amanda going too far and trying to excise Akko would be far more irritating than humorous.

"Calm down Amanda, she's not a ghost. And please, no cursing in the house while the baby's here," she chided, walking behind Akko and resting a hand on her shoulder, "And _you_ , please try to remember how sensitive Amanda is to ghosts after that graveyard trip we took junior year..."

Akko sighed and released her captive, "Allllrighhhhttt..."

"Sheesh, don't freak me out like that ya dingus..." Amanda snapped, slapping Akko across the back of the head.

"Ow! Amanda, it was just a jo-"

Akko was cut off as Amanda's arms encircled her. The two stood there, quietly for a moment, two performance partners reunited after a year, "Don't go dying again, got it?! The Brilliant Chariots are nothing without its headlining witch..."

The brunette was stunned silent before smiling and holding the other girl back, "I don't plan on it! The world needs more smiles, I'm not going to let something as simple as death stop me from providing!"

Just as she finished talking she was blindsided by a wailing Lotte, the blonde clawing her fingers into her best friend's side and back. If the girl was saying something, it was lost behind a wall of gasped sobs and babbling burbles.

Sucy shuffled in behind the housewife, positioning herself next to Diana, the nonplused look on her face still constant. She craned her head towards the now-pinned redhead, "Amanda, I broke my teacup..."

Amanda, trapped between her wife and resurrected troupemate, perked and her eyes ignited, glaring daggers at the brewer, "You _what_?!"

Sucy didn't respond, turning to Lotte instead, "Lotte, I broke my teacup..."

Lotte blarbed out two sentences in response; what sounded like 'It's okay Sucy' and 'Don't worry about it Amanda', the latter of which serving to cool the American's rage. Sucy smiled in response, small but smug at how well she maneuvered what should have been a dangerous conversation.

"You did a good job," the poison witch remarked, watching as the hugging trio began dissolving into tears together, "Very life-like."

Diana narrowed her eyes, "She's not a facsimile, Sucy."

Sucy smiled wider, "Then you did a _very_ good job. I can pick up where I left off... Though does she count as living or undead flesh now...?" The question was paired with her slipping a noxious green bottle from beneath her robe. Diana could tell it was made partly in jest, but the sincere look in her eye cemented what she said next. "Thanks."

The professor smiled, holding her own chin delicately between two fingers, "For Akko? Anything."

She gave a pleasant sigh and finally stepped forward to pry the blubbering triage apart, "Yes ladies, it is all well and good that you missed each other, but there's still someone else that Akko needs to meet, and I think we can agree it had been a meeting a long time in the making."

Lotte sniffed and pulled back from the brunette, allowing her wife to wiggle free. Holding Akko at arms length, the Finn wiped her face and smiled, finally relinquishing her hold and allowing Akko to move.

"She's in the living room right now, playing with the... Uh... Dog..." Amanda explained.

"You got a dog?!" Akko bounced, looking expectantly at the American girl.

The redhead rolled her eyes, "It's not ours, it's Sucy's, and the mutt isn't really a 'dog', per say."

"Don't talk bad about Wartercup, he's a good puppy," Sucy snapped, or at least as much as she could in her natural monotone.

The two friends began to bicker, delving deeper and deeper into the semantics of pets. Diana ignored them and gently grasped Akko's hand, slowly guiding her towards the living room. They only stopped when they reached the doorway, at which point Akko nervously clamped down on Diana's palm. Chime-like giggling came from around the curve, matched with the helping of some kind of indescribable animal.

"What if... What if she doesn't recognize me...? What if she doesn't like me...?" Akko sighed, her body shuddering.

"Akko, she's one, she's not exactly old enough to form coherent opinions yet," Diana cooed.

The performer shook her head, "I've left her for a year, and that sticks with a baby... I... I don't want her to feel abandoned..."

"She wasn't abandoned," Diana remarked, holding her wife oh so tenderly, "You were taken from us, unfairly, and I went to get you back. She'll grow up not only knowing but seeing what it really means to love someone... And that she's just as loved by the two of us..." And for the most part that was true. Diana couldn't deny that she had held that bitterness towards Ume, nor could she ignore a small facet of herself that still felt that with Akko at her side she knew she could more than overcomeit to love her daughter the way she deserved. She pushed her wife forward, flannel skirt brushing against the entryway, "Now go on, I think she'll be happy to see you."

Shoved beyond the passageway, Akko peered into the room, Diana joining her a second later.

What they saw was a stout creature, about a foot tall and three long, running circles I'm the middle of the room, its mushroom capped, eyeless head flopping about with excitement. Wartercup's cyclical jog was centered around a lone figure drifting gently above him, tiny fingers clutched tightly around a wand with a broomhandle attatchement. The tiny girl turned and stated at them, her movement causing her to rotate in place.

Akko gasped, cupping her hand beneath tearing eyes.

"She can already use magic...?" The brunette choked.

"She's the best student I've ever had..."Diana smiled, "In that way she takes after her mother..."

Akko sniffed, clutching her hands to her chest as she stepped forward.

"Ume?" Akko asked, kneeling down in front of the bobbing baby.

Wartercup, with his path obstructed, skid to a halt and watched as the child curiously reached out and gripped at Akko's bangs, pulling them both together. The baby stuck a few of the hairs in her mouth and Akko giggled, reaching out to cradle the tiny face herself.

The hairs fell loose from Ume's mouth as she uttered without hesitation, "Mama!"

At this point Diana was surprised that Akko hadn't run out of tears, what with how much she'd cried in the last two days. Then again, she must have been making up for a year of absence. Still, seeing her breakdown and pull their daughter out of the air for a tight hug was equal parts heartwarming, heart wrenching and entertaining. She gave her wife a minute alone with Ume before moving into to join them, pointedly ignoring the dampness on her own cheeks.

"Happy Birthday, Ume…" Diana sighed, resting her head against her daughter's.

The three melted together, finally coming together as a family for the first time. The year alone had been arduous, torturous even, without her soulmate. But nestled around her wife and her beautiful giggling daughter, Diana knew that all of those struggles were slowly coming to an end.

"Diana, she has your laugh!" Akko beamed, making the aristocrat blush and hold the two all the tighter.

Oh yes, the real struggles were definitely coming to a close, and that she was sure of.

O/o\O

~Afterward~

 _Okay, so admission. This was made in direct response to the Small Plumb AU's REALLY dark tone. DIANA AND AKKO DESERVE TO BE HAPPY, DAMNIT, WHY DID YOU RIP MY HEART OUT AZURA?!_

 _So I fixed it. Did all the heavy lifting. There, happy ending, everyone is smiles. EVERYONE. Q_Q_

 _I don't know how accurate the 'falling in love' segment will be considering the cannon of the show or what the other writers had in mind for their AUs. It's not really clear what the romance path was like, so I improvised what I could and hoped that it lined up well with everything. I'm probably very wrong. C'est la vie._

 _I also think that Amanda and Lotte make a great pair and I'm_ very _tempted to do a piece on those two in the future, showing how they came together. The idea of Lotte settling down as a housewife is very cute and Amanda being Akko's right-hand performer (and temporary successor) just rung true to me, same as Akko succeeding Chariot with her own troupe of performers and Diana naturally fitting in as a teacher at Luna Nova. Sucy, meanwhile, is happily living life with Wartercup and being the absolute troll that she is. She's a chemist, working with Constanze to bring together more modern innovations and traditional magic in a way that doesn't invoke Croix's villainy (I assume villainy, we've only had one episode with her at time of writing). Jasminka helps Akko and Amanda by supplying snacks for the children during the show, and Hannah and Barbara are totally gay together, but I never figured out how to work a lot of that into the story._

 _Anyway, ramblings over. I hope you all enjoyed this, and I'd adore if you left a comment telling me your thoughts. For those of you wondering, the conclusion to Souls Beyond Time is done and will go up on April 28_ _th_ _, so keep a lookout for that._

 _A friendly reminder though to all the good people out there that my P-a-t-r-e-o-n is still active and I appreciate any support! Just look up_ CelticPhoenix _and you should find me. Look! I even fixed the name! Or look up Raymond McNeil on the site, whichever works best._

 _Also a reminder that commissions are open and will continue to be! I'm always eager to write more for people, so don't be afraid to shoot me a message or an email asking about fandoms, prices and concepts!_

 _And if you want updates, always check out the YouTube page, Celtic Phoenix Productions, or my Twitter handle, Raymond_McNeil!_

 _That's all for now, catch ya on the flipside!_


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